Learning About Larry Freels' Historic Carousel
Animals Collection
with
Carousel Historian
Tobin Fraley
Source: Fresno State University
Posted on July 14,
2011
Fresno State University will be hosting an exhibit of
historic artistic carousel animals from July 16 to
August 31, 2011. In the following transcript, carousel
historian Tobin Fraley talks about Freels Carousel
Collection.
Coming
to this exhibit what spectators will see here, they will
find wonderful examples of some of the best carving by
some of these phenomenal carvers. These master carvers
really went above and beyond what they needed to do to
create just a seat on a ride. They really put their
heart and soul into using the carrousel medium kind of
as their canvas, at least that’s my take on it, and
producing really intricate work.
Video courtesy of Fresno State University
That age of
creating a masterpiece in wood is pretty much gone, but
what somebody coming to this exhibit is going to find
are basically masterpieces of carving … things you would
not find today. It is an art that is not necessarily
lost, but is fading quickly. They looked to a variety of
designs anywhere from Turkish and Egyptian influences to
rococo, Renaissance, gothic …. all these different
design elements you’ll find on the sides of the
carrousel figures along with mythology—dragons, and
knights and all kinds of amazing things that would take
the rider into a realm of fantasy itself.
The Freels
Foundation has a spectacular collection. There are other
collections out there that are on par, but this is one
of the best collections around. So what Mr. Freels has
been able to put together is really a collection of some
of the best carrousel animals that were made. What we’re
going to have at the exhibit is really such a wide
variety of different types of animals and different
types of styles from different carvers that it’s a real
window in to what was made and the quality of the work
that was done during that period of the Golden age of
the carrousel. This is not something you’re going to
find just going to any museum. It is something really
very, very special.
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